Hi Team!
I am putting together a series of 2 meter SIMPLEX drills for the fall, and need your help to make them a success.

In today’s ARES E-Letter (an ARRL publication) we see that this is a recognized “best practice”, and the letter describes the reasons for it.

Read on…
(BOLD and underlining by me.) 

Letters: Internet-based Systems' Fallibility
As a regular reader of the ARES E-Letter, I've watched the newsletter consistently espouse the use of D-STAR for disaster response and emergency communications services. One of the ARRL's catchy slogans, which is really more than just a slogan as it rings true is: "When all else fails, Amateur Radio."

Here in the mid-peninsula area south of San Francisco, we regularly train using simplex among hams, relaying as needed, to ensure all exercise participants get the messages. Among other things, these exercises encourage us to put up more effective antennas to ensure we can communicate across our cities on simplex and not rely on the numerous local repeaters.

I have nothing against D-STAR, IRLP, EchoLink, or repeaters. They can be very useful systems when they are available. My concern is the emphasis on relying on the availability of the Internet for emergency communications.

I would like to suggest that any emergency exercise that uses the Internet to pass traffic, also include direct ham-to-ham communication to pass traffic. Furthermore, the ARES E-Letter should encourage this direct communication so that we will truly be prepared for an emergency when/if the Internet is not available: "When all else fails, Amateur Radio."
-- Rich Stiebel, W6APZ,
Palo Alto, California,
CERT, ARES/RACES,
[email protected]